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Saturday, 23 August 2014

Intel Explores Wearable Devices for Parkinson's disease Research

Intel is planning to implement wearable gadgets to keep track and monitor patients who are suffering from Parkinson’s disease. The gadgets may include smart watches or smart bands and these gadgets will allow collecting the data of the patients and then this data will be transferred to the researchers and then these researchers will do the analysis accordingly.

They are collaborating with the Michael J. Fox Foundation in order to carry out multiphase research which will include study of the neurodegenerative brain disease. According to study it is estimated that nearly Five million people from all around the world have been analyzed and diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Hence it is said to be second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's. So it’s a serious issue and must be taken care of so this is the reason why Intel took the initiation to make this research.

The preliminary target or goal is to determine the practicability of implementing wearable devices to track patients remotely and store the data which is collected using these in an open system that can be retrieved and used by scientists for further study.

In the next stage of the research and study the foundation will establish funds to monitor how patients are replying or responding to the provided medication. The array of wearable devices will be used to track the patient’s records that will be the part of research.

These wearable smart devices will provide a useful method to keep track of patients from their work or homes, and the best part is that it will also allow people in the most rural parts of the country to get involved in the research. It’s a true fact that people of rural areas don’t have much resource to get involved in such type of research practices because they neither have much money nor they have any knowledge to understand such high projects so they are only concerned with their personal life hence they are not interested in such research. But Intel has always found the technical solution of every problem and this Parkinson’s disease research is the best example of this. So hats off to Intel Corporation.

These wearable gadgets will be provided to almost every patient who is suffering from the Parkinson’s disease. The research will take place in different phases and the details that will be obtained using these smart gadgets will be stored in the system that will be open to scientists for purpose of study. And these results will be analyzed by them and thus without any actual participation of patients the proper output in the form of medication will be discovered.

Now the most interesting part is the wearable devices that will be used. It is estimated that the wearable devices would be designed in such a way that patient or participant may wear it for whole research duration comfortably. It should be light weighted and should look good on wearing. Hence the smart watches are selected as the best device for this. But also it is in the news that they will work with Basis Science which is well known for its wrist band and this wrist band will measure the heart rate of the person wearing this.

So let’s hope that this research will be successful soon because it will help the patients suffering from Parkinson’s to get rid of this disease and live a healthy life.